my sweatshop

caution:  children at work

my 10 year high school reunion

my high school reunion was a total bust.

i got all ready with the help of my friends. 

carolyn was on outfit and make-up.

while kara was on hair.

i've never wore skinny jeans before but found i actually like them.

i used to kind of scoff at them.

(briene, melissa, me)

i went with two of my good friends.

melissa flew in from kansas.

if she hadn't put the whole idea together, than there was no way in heck i would have gone.

{i'm still actually kind of wondering why i went.}

i had no idea that the reunion was going to be at a mexican bar.

but it was.

i guess it was fitting considering the name of my high school is corona.

however, there were only 6 mormons at the whole thing and i think we were the

only ones who weren't wasted after the first hour.

the music was so loud that you couldn't even hear yourself talking.

so that made conversation a little difficult.

the only positives were the good mexican food and these cool disco stars hanging from the ceiling.

go aztecs!

(that was our mascot)

my absolute highlight was when we left and went to sugar bowl for an ice cream treat.

i ordered a  sundae with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup topped with malt.

it was deeelish.

it was still fun to get to hang out with my friends and to get all fancied up.

something i don't do much of but enjoy doing every once in a while.

being at the reunion with a bunch of people who i see have taken such different paths

makes me thankful for the choices i have made and for my religion.

i am so thankful for my wonderful husband and for my sweet children.

i am so thankful for my life.

ava's birthday party

ava turned 3 and had her first birthday party with friends!

the birfday girl.

all the kids scrambling to gather as much candy as their little hands can hold.

her presents included snow white, cinderella, tinkerbell, babies, bubbles and more.

ava decided to wear her cake rather than eat it. hence the blue frosting covering her chin.

it was a fun day at the park.

monday night at the ball park

my whole family went to the diamondbacks game on monday for family home evening.

we cheered on the home team while stuffing our faces with hot dogs and nachos. 

jack watching the water shoot up after the d-backs hit a homer.

my big cheese ball of a dad.

ava was applying her makeup all throughout the game.

or at least pretending to.

it happened to be her birthday on the same night and my parents got her a disney princess

purse with filled with lots of girly trinkets.

we didn't even make it to the 7th inning stretch due to tired cranky restless kids.

buuut... it was good while it lasted.

weekend road trip

we have great friends.  great friends that invite us to their cabin for the weekend, that is.

and thankgoodness. it was nice to escape the desert heat and head northeast to vernon, az.

our kids had so much fun playing in the wilderness.

the best part was we got to break out the sweatshirts from hibernation. 

it actually felt like autumn. sigh.

zipping through the trees.

the end.

p.s. thank you adam and carolyn :)

not so handy

last night i was doing a little measuring in the kitchen for my new renovations.

which include painting my cabinets and adding a subway tile backsplash.

amongst other things.

i didn't get very far.

while i was using the measuring tape it somehow got lodged between the plug of my mixer 

and the outlet.

as a result, i got zapped by some major voltage on my arm and then the outlet began to

pop and spark followed by black smoke.

it ended up blowing all the fuses in the kitchen.

wow. i didn't know measuring could be so dangerous.

this morning i had to carry my toaster to another room just so i could have some toast.

after school snack

as soon as jack gets home from school he runs to the pantry to scout out his after school snack.

what's it going to be?

hmmmm..... rice krispie treat, cosmic brownie, graham crackers....

today it was wheat thins in a cup.

cali last day

we spent our last day in california soaking up the warm sunshine rays on the best beach ever.

beautiful newport beach.

i so love this place.

later that night we strolled on over to balboa island where we

hung out and ate balboa bars.

it's our little tradition.

the next day we drove home.

and so our four day journey through southern california was over.

p.s. ava decided she had to go to the bathroom a million times on the way home

and we got sick of stopping so we told her to hold it and with only half hour left she peed

in her car seat at least three times. each time she laughed and announced to everyone what she was doing. 

what a way to end a trip.